Alan Partridge comes to BBC America

I listened to the whole thing in one go while redecorating at the weekend. The theme tune never stops being funny after 38 repetitions.

i’m alan partridge, this is my podcast... ‘MTHEOASTHOUSE

Just simple stuff like how he pronounces the "h" in whilst is hilarious. But the Alan Partridge project is deeper than a simple lampoon of hopeless MOR TV presenters now, From The Oasthouse - like the best Alan of recent years - is focused on a certain late-middle-aged redundancy, men who've been coasting on their own hubris and self-belief for so long they've not noticed that it's all leaked away and they;re left with nothing of much value. That thing about how Alan and all his golf club mates discussed with each other what to name their cottages, and Alan ended up with the Oasthouse...

I went to listen to a new one last night, realised after a few seconds it was the one I'd listened to last and just re-listened anyway. Think they do need two run-throughs.
He's got the voice down so well, it's a little close to home actually as he sounds identical to my dad in places. Always has.

stevie and kinder otm. he’s definitely moved slightly out of the realm of parody and more towards portraiture. i know people who are just like alan but 10 times worse: louder, more insecure, more bigoted, and an even greater groaning self of sense-importance. if they wanted alan to remain firmly in parody, they could have cranked him all the way up to 11, but instead they’ve chosen to demonstrate that alan is actually in 2020 now, and is responding positively (and sometimes reluctantly) to changing attitudes. an example of this is where he touches on trans issues: he gets it wrong of course, but he’s at least listening.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-54277794

Alan Partridge statue appears in Norwich

AA, i remember thinking similar when s2 of I'm Alan Partridge came out... the "driving to Dundee in bare feet" suggested he was going to be crayzee but they made him "chilled out" with a girlfriend, which sounded like a terrible idea at first but was done so well, the sort of forced positivity etc

The father's day podcast with the time capsule is oddly moving, while still hilarious.

yeah, it’s incredible how they get the balance right, and the end is such an unexpected payoff.

kinder otm, that was really well done. maybe that was the start of a more rounded alan. people knock s2 but it’s chock full of value.

#AccidentalPartridge pic.twitter.com/J4pyPCTDab

— Accidental Partridge (@AccidentalP) October 3, 2020

I walked past the Forum a few days back and was hoping to see the statue, alas, didn't know it was quite so temporary.

“When the shoe is on the other foot, it’s very different!”

This is as good as he’s ever been imo

Great posts on this thread explaining why

Did the final two episodes this week - for a moment when Alan had received all the genuine advice from High Noon about treating the injured bird, and was then tracking him down, I thought it was going to turn out to be a betrayal by Bill Oddie

LA musings are great

The father's day podcast with the time capsule is oddly moving, while still hilarious.

How much of this does he write? Anybody know?

He generally does zero of the sitting-at-a-keyboard writing, but sometimes does lots of initial riffing with the Gibbons. The brothers then divide up ideas and write separately, and then they and Coogan and whoever else is on a given project* will revise. No idea if that's the same here, but it was made before the world shut down, and likely written while he was busy promoting Greed and the fourth series of The Trip...

*I think everything since Alpha Papa has just been the three of them, though sometimes Armando will give feedback.

I was hoping you’d come thru sic. Thanks :)

:D

Probably less relevant to the process on this project, but also notable, from an interview with Neil about This Time (nb they started directing as well with MMM season 2):

Once the script is finished it continues to evolve until the cameras roll. 'On set we'll hammer it again and again, before and between takes, partly to gives us more options in the edit,' says Neil. 'And then there's the edit itself which is another phase altogether. The assembly that's put together at the beginning of the edit is miles from the finished article. We carry on writing until we deliver the final show, basically.'

i’m alan partridge, this is my podcast... ‘MTHEOASTHOUSE

hahaha i know except except - he says “i’m Ala’ Patridge” WHY DOES HE DO THAT

I think you'll find that he very helpfully went into extreme detail about why he has had to adopt some counterintuitive pronunciations in order to rise above anti-Norwichian prejudice on the media stage. So bloody go and stuff your leading questions!

I'd like to apologise for that earlier outburst, I acknowledge you were posting in earnest

no yes. well.

🤠

The theme tune is always in my head, but my brain wants to finish it with "with your fist holding tight... to the string of a kite" then I've got "Let's go fly a kite" as an earworm.

Initialism vs acronym distinction takedown was great in ep 3

― calstars, Tuesday, March 19, 2019 4:09 PM (one year ago) bookmarkflaglink

Just seen this from the This Time thread!

Not 'thread'... the bit of this thread

this is v good
https://www.vice.com/en/article/4ayjpj/oral-history-of-alan-partridge

Lee & Herring shafted again...

Thanks for that! the laughter track thing is so weird, I must've watched IAP s1 hundreds of times but it still surprises me to see it.

Podcast is very good but it will never beat the real thing:

#AccidentalPartridge pic.twitter.com/jXHTD8adEo

— Accidental Partridge (@AccidentalP) October 10, 2020

fucking hell

that is next-level.

and now here’s bernard matthews to talk about national vegan day

On the BBC 4 Podcast Hour, Coogan says that they're writing a second series of This Time at the moment, and it will be set after the pandemic. (They recorded a couple of late snippets of Oasthouse in lockdown, but thought it would unduly colour the entire project if they mentioned it. On the whole he prefers to avoid references to specific politicians or sports announcers in Partridge, as they're more transient than other elements of culture that concern the character.)

They recorded a couple of late snippets of Oasthouse in lockdown, but thought it would unduly colour the entire project if they mentioned it.

I may be misremembering, but I thought there were a couple of references to lockdown in the early episodes?

He may have said "to focus on it" or s/t - was mainly correcting the interviewer's impression that the whole project had been done under lockdown to entertain people in that situation.

Ah, right. I noticed the other day that the later episodes are clearly written in a non-Covid environment. Still not finished them yet, and will be sad when I do!

fucking hell

― Number None, Monday, 12 October 2020 bookmarkflaglink

that is next-level.

― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Monday, 12 October 2020 bookmarkflaglink

Isn't it a practice for a white person to talk first on these experiences rather than the person who has suffered the consequences of racists attitudes having to do the heavy lifting? Obv what happened next was edited for comedy but I'd be surprised if that was the only voice heard from in the discussion.

A rare piece of Partridgeana: the in-universe 1993 "fly on the wall" doco made during the production of Knowing Me Knowing You episode 4. Broadcast halfway between the KMKY radio series and The Day Today's TV series, includes the only actual appearance of Carol, and Partridge's only acknowledgment of his hair*. Plus Iannucci on-mic as the producer, and the intertextuality / strand-to-strand editing might hint that he wrote it with Marber & Coogan?

Up for another 16 days free listening rn: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00800kh

*(imo his hair was already retconned after IAP S2, and I'm adding another retcon between this and IAP to my headcanon)

Not exactly following you but he does discuss his hair in the Oasthouse. There's a whole episode inspired by his hair.

There's a gag about its apparent fakeness in the doco :)

thanks for the headsup!

Thanks too!

Irish Alan was superb

I'm finally watching this series and yeah, great bit and great performance by Coogan.

It's back! soon

The new series of #ThisTime with Alan Partridge begins on Friday 30 April at 9.30pm on @BBCOne. pic.twitter.com/k5cyl7hT7Z

— BBC Press Office (@bbcpress) April 14, 2021

^

thank you for reminder!

very much looking forward to this!